Promoted by Top Rank Inc., Margarito (38-7, 27 KOs) already had been scheduled for a rematch on that date of his 11th-round knockout of Cotto (36-2, 30 KOs) that dethroned Cotto as WBA welterweight titleholder in July of 2008.

Promoted by Golden Boy, Mares-Agbeko II was mandated by the IBF after last month’s unanimous decision by Mares, who landed repeated low blows that went unpenalized by referee Russell Mora, including a shot to Agbeko’s cup that was ruled a knockdown by Mora.

“Look, ultimately, it’s not ideal to have two big fights on the same night, but both are good fights. The Cotto-Margarito fight is a good fight. It’s an interesting rematch with a lot of story lines. The same is true for the Mares-Agbeko fight. It’s a very interesting rematch with a lot of different story lines. It’s a much-anticipated rematch.” said Schaefer.

“You have to work within the available dates, and so we are going to obviously promote the event. I think that it’s going to do extremely well from a live gate point of view and from a ratings point of view. I want to thank [Showtime’s Sports General Manager’ Ken Hershman for making it happen.”

Also on the Mares-Agbeko undercard is a clash between former beltholder Vic Darchinyan (37-3-1, 27 KOs) and WBA bantamweight titleholder Anselmo Moreno (31-1-1, 11 KOs).

“That’s going to be part of the double-header. I think that it’s a very exciting night of boxing,” said Schaefer. “Two world championship fights in this weight class. We’re really excited and delighted that this is going happen this year.”